The Naked Truth
by Gisele
Summary: McCall gets sick and Hunter takes care of her -- with unexpected consequences...


The Naked Truth  
  
After finishing doing the paperwork, Hunter and McCall called it a night. He walked her to the parking lot and said she should go home and take some medicine, because she "looked awful".  
  
"Thank you very much for your nice comment, Hunter!" she replied with an angry look, which actually was fake.  
  
McCall had been with the flu all week and she really was feeling worse that Friday. All she wanted was to go to bed and sleep through the weekend. To make up for what he had just said (although kidding, he regretted it), Hunter suggested that he would go with her and stay in her house for the weekend, to help her out. McCall liked the idea of having Hunter around and smiled at him:  
  
"OK, you'll have the honor of being my male nurse. But be gentle and DON'T say I'm looking awful again!"  
  
Before turning in, McCall had some chicken soup and Hunter ate Chinese food, comfortably sat in front of her bed - which made McCall almost throw up. Although she was already used to Hunter's behavior (after so many years together), sometimes she felt like biting his head off. But the rest of the night he was a gentleman and she had nothing to complain about. He even went out at 4:30 a.m. to buy a medicine whose bottle she accidentally knocked down, ruining it, and that didn't bother him at all, because he really cared about McCall.  
  
Early Saturday, Hunter (who was sleeping on the couch), was woken up by the telephone ring. It was Charlie, looking for McCall. He wanted to ask her something about a case she worked on months before, when Hunter had been absent from work because an injury in the leg. When Charlie heard Hunter's voice, he said:  
  
"What the hell are you doing there?" with dirty thoughts in mind.  
  
Hunter rushed to explain that McCall was sick and he was just helping her out and taking care of her. Charlie, who had recently lost two other male/female duo because of "the thing they call love", was worried about any signal that showed Hunter and McCall were more than partners or friends and didn't like to find Hunter so early in McCall's house, even considering she was sick. But, as he didn't want to discuss it now, he said:  
  
"Well, OK, but I need to talk with McCall. Wake her up, will ya?"  
  
"No way, Captain. It took her hours to turn in and I'm not gonna wake her up now!" Hunter chimed in.  
  
Charlie wondered how could Hunter know that, but he stopped himself from asking it, because he wasn't ready to know (which he thought was) the truth. Having no choice, Charlie talked with Hunter about the case, since McCall had told everything about it to her partner, who could provide the piece of information that Charlie needed.  
  
After Charlie hung up, Rick headed for the bathroom to take a shower. He took his jeans off and was about to open the door of the shower stall when a sleepy, febrile and dizzy McCall entered the bathroom. Although sleepy, febrile and dizzy, McCall wasn't blind at all and when she saw that "awesome specimen of a man" standing in front of her she, being on meds, couldn't help saying:  
  
"Ooh, there's a hot babe in my bathroom!"  
  
Hunter, surprised that she was awake, turned around, looked at her and looked for a towel -- which he had forgotten to take from the cabinet. McCall, totally euphoric with that delightful moment, tried to reach Hunter, but stumbled over the mat and fell onto the floor, screaming with pain. Hunter (yet naked) immediately took her in his arms, headed for the bedroom and put her on the bed, asking nervously if she was OK. McCall looked up (and down) and said, with a malicious smile:  
  
"Yes, Hunter, I AM OK!"  
  
Hours later, they were having lunch at McCall's kitchen table. DeeDee was feeling much better, although a little embarrassed about her previous behavior. Hunter wasn't comfortable as well and he wondered why, since being naked in front of a woman had never been a problem to him before. They talked about generalities and about Charlie's phone call. In the end of the meal, Hunter told her he was supposed to pick up a cousin of his at the airport and take him to the hotel, because the guy had never been to Los Angeles. Then he left, leaving McCall lost in (sexy) thoughts about his partner.  
  
At night, Hunter was cool about what had happened in the bathroom and started annoying McCall with off-color remarks. She tried to change the subject asking him about his cousin. Hunter answered that he was glad "to have gone to see him off, because Tony is a good friend". DeeDee stared at him confused and asked:  
  
"To see him off? You said your cousin was arriving in LA, not leaving!"  
  
"No, no. I said I would pick him up at the hotel and take him to the airport. You see, you took lots of medicine and they were making you act very strangely and you were very confused and you misunderstood what I said."  
  
"Don't do this to me, Hunter! I'm not, and I was not, crazy! What did you do all day long? Why did you leave me alone? All this was about you being naked in my bathroom?" and she laughed.  
  
Hunter smiled cynically and said:  
  
"I have been thinking about the whole bathroom thing. You saw me naked, then I should see you naked too... you know, to get even..."  
  
DeeDee laughed out loud and added:  
  
"In your dreams, partner, in your dreams!"  
  
There was a knock on the door. It was the pizza they had ordered.  
  
"I get!" said Hunter.  
  
Although McCall said "in your dreams", the idea hadn't sounded so weird to her. Out of the blue, she started thinking about Hunter as a man, not just as a friend or partner. It was curious that just the fact of seeing Hunter naked had changed the way she felt about him. Or maybe, she always did feel attracted to Hunter but didn't want to recognize that.  
  
"Well," she thought, "if Hunter wants to get even, let's get even."  
  
She looked at him (who had already grabbed a slice of pizza) and said, seriously:  
  
"OK, Hunter. Forget the pizza. I'm gonna take a shower; if you want to come with me and watch..." and headed for the bathroom, doing a striptease on the way.  
  
Hunter, who had just started chewing his slice of pizza, choked and, with his eyes wide open, could not believe what was happening...  
  
On Monday, poor Charlie had another problem to deal with, since his favorites detectives were the new happy couple of the homicide squad... 


End file.
